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The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins

Start date: December 1, 2016

Finish date: December 31, 2016

Discussion: Read

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Jun 17, 2016 Humaira Shaikh rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

My honest opinion would be that this is not as compelling as it was made out to be. The main character is not someone that I feel particularly sympathetic to. In fact I find her weak and pathetic in a way, and the rest of the characters are not to interesting either. The first half of the book is slow and boring as it deals with the protagonists drunkenness. But the second half becomes more interesting as things move forward.

The protagonist is Rachel Watson a 32-year-old who drinks herself to th My honest opinion would be that this is not as compelling as it was made out to be. The main character is not someone that I feel particularly sympathetic to. In fact I find her weak and pathetic in a way, and the rest of the characters are not to interesting either. The first half of the book is slow and boring as it deals with the protagonists drunkenness. But the second half becomes more interesting as things move forward.

The protagonist is Rachel Watson a 32-year-old who drinks herself to the point of addiction/destruction, so much so that she has time lapses in her memory where she can not remember what she has done during those alcohol induced periods. She is divorced because her husband found someone better and decided to cheat on her. Also because she could not have kids and that took a toll on her mentally that she started drinking too much and her husband could not handle it anymore. Even after her divorce she decides not to change back to her maiden name and keeps her cheater husbands name (which is pathetic).

She moves in with a "friend" who is more sensible then she is, and way more patient then I would have been. Rachel is a terrible room mate, she pukes and shits herself allover the place in her stupor. Rachel eventually looses her job due to her drinking habit and bad behaviour. She decides not to tell her roommate this and instead acts like she is going to work everyday by taking the 8:45 train to London. Even more pathetic! In the train she sits in the same exact seat everyday. So she can see her old house from the window, where she used to live with her husband Tom. Who now lives in the same house with his new wife Anna and his child. She also sees another house in the same neighbourhood, where live a perfect couple who she call's "Jess" and "Jason" . Since she doesn't know their real names she makes one up for them (as jobless and aimless as she is) and imagines what their life is like, she paints rosy pictures of them in her head about who they are as people, and how they live their life, how the speak think, behave.

One day from the train she see's "Jess" in the backyard kissing another man who is not "Jason". She is shocked. That the so perfect "Jess" of her head could be cheating on her husband. Her curiosity is sparked. And also the story becomes a bit more interesting from this point onward. Soon she finds out that "Jess" who is actually Megan Hipwell, is missing. And her husband Scott (Jasson) is the main suspect!

She goes to the police to tell them what she saw but they do not take her seriously as she is an unreliable witness (because obviously she was drunk when she goes to the police!) So starts her search for the missing woman she used to see everyday from the train window. Her search also uncovers a big secret from her past, back when she was married to Tom. Rachel realises that people are not who they seem to be! And what she thought of Megan Hipwell, was completely different from who she actually is in reality. Rachel decides to quit drinking and find out the mystery of the blank spaces in her memory and where Megan went.

The story is narrated from three point of views Rachel Watson's, Anna's, and Megan Hipwell's. The author has stressed a lot on the character development of everyone in the book that you start suspecting who they are in actuality.

Who is Rachel?
Is Megan Hipwell really a perfect, ambitious, intelligent women as she seems to be?
Is Anna really a victim of paranoia or a reckless human being?
Is Tom really a sweet, calm, and sensible husband trying to make peace between his old wife and new wife?
Or is there something appalling, lurking under his calm demeanour?
Is Scott really the grieving husband or a jealous and controlling chauvinist?

The book is kind of predictable as the story progresses. But apart from that the book was well written and had a good plot. The only flaw I felt was the characters not being to relatable. At no point did I feel that I liked anyone in particular. They were either OK or I Disliked them. I will recommend this for the sole reason that the characters were so well described. The book can be read once. It is a really slow pace book in the beginning and then picks up to a moderate pace later. It had a good concept. And a really good ending. But it was't convincing enough. ...more

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Feb 22, 2024 Steph L rated it really liked it

Characters-7- The characters in this book were okay. I'm not used to books with unreliable narrators, and I felt like I couldn't trust anyone while reading this book.

Atmosphere-7- I liked the atmosphere in this book. I thought it worked well for the story.

Writing-8-The writing in the book was good. I thought the writing style worked well for the story.

Plot-8- I'm not used to the genre but ended up enjoying the drama and plot of this book.

Intrigue-7- I was interested to see where this story wa ...more

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